Naughty boys seizing northern infertile region (8)

I believe the answer is:

badlands

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'naughty boys seizing northern infertile region' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'naughty boys seizing northern' is the wordplay.
'naughty' becomes 'bad' (badly behaved).
'boys' becomes 'lads' (lad is a kind of boy).
'seizing' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters are seized).
'northern' becomes 'n' (abbreviation e.g. N. Ireland).
'lads' enclosing 'n' is 'lands'.
'bad'+'lands'='BADLANDS'

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(Another definition for badlands that I've seen is " Barren region of South Dakota and Nebraska".)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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